Johnny Brooks

John Brooks (23 December 1931 – 7 June 2016) was an English professional footballer who played for Reading, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, Brentford, Crystal Palace in the Football League. Brooks won three England caps and scored two goals.[4] Towards the end of his career he played in non-League football with Stevenage Town and Cambridge City and in North America with Cleveland Stokers. He later player-managed Knebworth. His son Shaun Brooks also had a career in professional football.

For other people named John Brooks, see John Brooks (disambiguation).

Johnny Brooks
Personal information
Full name John Brooks[1]
Date of birth 23 December 1931
Place of birth Reading, England
Date of death 7 June 2016(2016-06-07) (aged 84)[2]
Place of death Bournemouth, England[3]
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[3]
Position(s) Inside forward
Youth career
Coley Old Boys
Mount Pleasant
0000–1949 Castle Street Institute
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1949–1953 Reading 46 (5)
1953–1959 Tottenham Hotspur 166 (46)
1959–1961 Chelsea 46 (6)
1961–1964 Brentford 83 (36)
1964 Crystal Palace 7 (0)
1964 Toronto City
1964–1967 Stevenage Town
1968 Cleveland Stokers 22 (1)
1968–1969 Cambridge City 23 (0)
Knebworth
International career
1956 England 3 (2)
Managerial career
Knebworth
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Reading

Brooks' career began as a youth at Coley Old Boys, Mount Pleasant, Castle Street Institute and he also represented Reading & Berkshire schoolboys.[3][5][6] An inside forward, he began his senior club career at hometown Third Division South club Reading.[1] Brooks joined the Royals in February 1949 as an amateur and signed a professional contract two months later.[5] While with Reading, Brooks served his national service at Aldershot and represented the Army football team.[7] He made 46 league appearances and scored five goals over the course of a three-year spell and helped the club to third and second-place finishes in the 1950–51 and 1951–52 seasons respectively.[1][8] Brooks departed Elm Park in February 1953 and was posthumously inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame in 2018.[5][9]

Tottenham Hotspur

After turning down moves to Newcastle United, Arsenal and West Ham United,[6][7] Brooks joined First Division club Tottenham Hotspur in February 1953 for a £6,000 fee, with Dennis Uphill and Harry Robshaw moving to Reading.[6] He later recalled that Tottenham had always been in his blood, after watching the 1949–50 Second Division and 1950–51 First Division championship triumphs on the terraces at White Hart Lane.[7] After beginning his career with the club in the reserve team,[7] Brooks made his first team debut in a 2–0 defeat to Stoke City on 6 April 1953,[6] but it would prove to be his only appearance of the 1952–53 season.[10]

By the 1954–55 season, Brooks had broken through into the first team and made 31 appearances, scoring seven goals.[10] After the departure of manager Arthur Rowe in 1955, the best years of Brooks' Spurs career came under new manager Jimmy Anderson and he scored in double figures to help Tottenham to second and third-place finishes in the 1956–57 and 1957–58 seasons respectively.[10][11] His performances also won him England recognition.[7] A bust up with new manager Bill Nicholson after a 6–0 defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1958 was the beginning of the end of Brooks' time at White Hart Lane and he departed the club in December 1959.[6][7] Brooks scored 51 goals in 179 appearances during his six and a half years with Tottenham.[6]

Chelsea

Brooks joined First Division club Chelsea for a £20,000 fee in December 1959, with Les Allen moving to Tottenham Hotspur in exchange.[6] The move reunited Brooks with his former Reading manager Ted Drake.[7] He made 52 appearances and scored seven goals over the course of a spell which lasted until September 1961.[12]

Brentford

Brooks signed for Chelsea's West London neighbours Brentford in September 1961 in a £5,000 deal.[6] He made 38 league appearances and scored 10 goals over the course of a disastrous 1961–62 season in the Third Division, with a 23rd-place finish relegating the Bees to the Fourth Division for the 1962–63 season.[13] In the Fourth Division, Brooks was the playmaker and inspired Brentford to the title,[14] making 39 appearances, scoring 22 goals and winning the first club silverware of his career.[13] He missed the final few games of the season after suffering a torn groin and his fitness troubles continued into the 1963–64 season,[15] in which he scored four goals in six games before leaving the club.[13] Brooks made 92 appearances and scored over 40 goals during his time at Griffin Park.[16] Looking back in 2005, Brooks revealed "in many ways the two years I spent at Brentford were my happiest in the game".[15]

Crystal Palace

Brooks joined Third Division club Crystal Palace in January 1964.[17] He made just seven appearances for the club before departing at the end of the 1963–64 season,[17] after the club's promotion to the Second Division was confirmed.[18]

Toronto City

Brooks spurned the interest of Lincoln City and Aldershot and travelled to Canada in May 1964,[15] to sign for Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League club Toronto City.[7][19] Among his teammates at the club were Tony Book, Ted Purdon, Norman Sykes and player-manager Malcolm Allison.[19]

Non-League football

Brooks returned to the UK in September 1964 and signed for Southern League club Stevenage Town,[7] managed by George Curtis.[15] He later moved within the league to join Cambridge City.[7]

Cleveland Stokers

Brooks returned to North America to play in the North American Soccer League with Cleveland Stokers in 1968.[20] He made 22 appearances and scored one goal in his spell.[20]

Return to non-League football

After his return to the UK, Brooks played for and managed Herts Senior County League club Knebworth well into his fifties.[5][21] He later coached the teams at Moordown Youth and served as president of Bournemouth.[3][7]

International career

Brooks' goalscoring for Tottenham Hotspur won him a call up to the England squad for a British Home Championship match versus Wales on 14 November 1956.[5] He scored the second goal in a 3–1 victory. He was called up again for a friendly versus Yugoslavia two weeks later and again got on the scoresheet in a 3–0 win.[5] Brooks' third and final cap came in a 5–2 1958 World Cup qualification win over Denmark on 5 December 1956.[5]

Personal life

Brooks was one of the earliest British footballers to endorse hair products, advertising Max Factor shampoo during the 1950s.[22] Brooks' son Shaun was also a professional footballer and played for Leyton Orient, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth, was capped by England at schoolboy and youth level and managed Dorchester Town.[5] After retiring from football, Brooks worked alongside friend and former teammate Tommy Harmer as a broker's messenger for Bank Hapoalim,[3][15][22] until being made redundant at the age of 60.[7] With the help of former teammate Micky Dulin, Brooks then became a park-keeper at Ridgeway Park in Chingford.[15] Brooks retired and moved to Bournemouth in 1997.[7][23] It was reported in 2014 that Brooks was suffering with vascular dementia and he died on 7 June 2016.[2][24]

Honours

England

Brentford

Crystal Palace

Individual

Career statistics
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Tottenham Hotspur 1952–53[10] First Division 1 0 0 0 — 1 0
1953–54[10] 18 2 0 0 — 18 2
1954–55[10] 31 7 3 4 — 34 11
1955–56[10] 39 10 6 1 — 45 11
1956–57[10] 23 11 0 0 — 23 11
1957–58[10] 25 10 1 0 — 26 10
1958–59[10] 25 4 3 0 — 28 4
1959–60[10] 4 2 — — 4 2
Total 166 46 13 5 — 179 51
Chelsea 1959–60[10] First Division 20 5 2 0 — 22 5
1960–61[10] 26 1 0 0 4 1 30 2
Total 46 6 2 0 4 1 52 7
Brentford 1961–62[13] Third Division 38 10 5 1 0 0 43 11
1962–63[13] Fourth Division 39 22 1 0 1 0 41 22
1963–64[13] Third Division 6 4 0 0 2 0 8 4
Total 83 36 6 1 3 0 92 37
Cleveland Stokers 1968[20] North American Soccer League 22 1 — — 22 1
Career total 317 89 21 6 7 1 345 96

References
  1. "Johnny Brooks". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  2. "Obituary – Johnny Brooks 8 June 2016 – News". www.tottenhamhotspur.com. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
  3. Goodwin, Bob (16 August 2017). The Spurs Alphabet. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-9540434-2-1.
  4. Hugman,B,J,(Ed)The PFA Premier & Football League Players' Records (1946–2005) 2005 p84 ISBN 1-85291-665-6 Retrieved 16 September 2008
  5. "England Players – Johnny Brooks". Englandfootballonline.com. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  6. "johnny brooks – fact file". Archive.mehstg.com. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  7. "Johnnie Brooks". tottenhamhotspur.com. 2 November 2001. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  8. Reading F.C. at the Football Club History Database
  9. "McDermott and Dolan inducted into Reading Hall of Fame". InYourArea.co.uk. 24 March 2018. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  10. "Johnny Brooks". 11v11.com. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  11. Tottenham Hotspur F.C. at the Football Club History Database
  12. "John (Johnny) Brooks | Chelsea Player Profile". Stamford-Bridge.com The History of Chelsea FC. 12 December 1959. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  13. White, Eric, ed. (1989). 100 Years Of Brentford. Brentford FC. pp. 386–387. ISBN 0951526200.
  14. Hayes, Graham (1998). A-Z of Bees: Brentford Encyclopedia. Yore Publications. pp. 22–23. ISBN 1-874427-57-7.
  15. Lane, David (2005). Cult Bees & Legends: Volume Two. Hampton Hill: Legends Publishing. pp. 166–171. ISBN 0954368282.
  16. Haynes, Graham; Coumbe, Frank (2006). Timeless Bees: Brentford F.C. Who's Who 1920–2006. Harefield: Yore Publications. p. 28. ISBN 978-0955294914.
  17. "Johnny Brooks". Crystal Palace FC Supporters' Website – The Holmesdale Online. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  18. Crystal Palace F.C. at the Football Club History Database
  19. "Toronto Italia. – Cerebral Soccer". Tillotson.co.nz. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  20. "John Brooks". North American Soccer League Players. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  21. "Knebworth Football Club". Knebworthfc.intheteam.com. Archived from the original on 13 April 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  22. Lamming, Douglas (1990). English Football Internationalists' Who's Who. Hatton Press. pp. 48, 49.
  23. "Where are they now? – Former Spurs players". www.mehstg.com. Retrieved 16 September 2008.
  24. "Johnny Brooks". Bfctalk. 27 June 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  25. "How to help Star add to our Hall of Fame". www.readingfc.co.uk. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
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